createinspiremotivate: Easy Peasy Pennant Banner

I am getting ready to take a huge leap of faith and quit my day job.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to be gainfully employed closer to home, much closer to home, as in gainfully employed from home.

It's exciting! A dream come true! It's also partly terrifying. (Being self employed seems like a great idea on paper, but it's not exactly the guaranteed paycheck that I've become so fond of.)

So to insure my financial future, I've begun building a solid foundation for an in-home photography studio empire. A vital part of this foundation is the accumulation of stuff. Not just any stuff, but aesthetically pleasing unique photogenic props and background stuff.

Sometimes when I can't find the exactly right stuff, I make it.

I wanted a pennant type banner to use in the backdrop for child portraits. Something cheerful and bright with colors that could work with either gender. I also wanted something that was durable. In order to get everything I wanted, I decided the best route would be to make it myself, and so I did.

Easy Peasy Pennant Banner

You will need:

Fabric-

I bought 1/3 yd of four different fabrics (pic 2 top). It made three banners that were 12' long. Adjust fabric yardage depending on desired length and quantity of pennant banners.

Cording-

Amount and length will vary depending on desired banner length. I bought 45 ft package of cotton string from Walmart and had plenty left over.

Pic 2

Cut- First I made the pattern template. I drew a 6"x 8" isosceles triangle on a piece of tracing paper. I then used the template to cut out 10-12 triangles out of each fabric making sure the base of the triangle was perpendicular to the selvage edge.

Press- Fold the base of each triangle down 5/8" toward the wrong side of the fabric. Press and pin.

Sew- Using a 1/2" seam allowance stitch parallel to the fold remembering to backstitch at each end (pic 2 bottom left). This will form the casing for the string and is how you will hang the triangles.

*Sidenote- your fabric will fray over time if you do not finish the seam allowances. Consider what you are using the banner for and how long you are using this banner. If it is a limited use banner, I wouldn't worry about finishing the raw edges. But if you're like me and want it to stand up to wear and tear you'll have to finish the edges. I wanted to keep my banner simple so I finished my edges with fray-check.

Design- Lay out your triangles in the order you'd like them to be on the banner. I didn't want mine in a predictable pattern so I put them in a random, but balanced order.

String- Your last step is to put your string through the casings on the triangles. It's easiest if you put a small safety pin in through one end of your string and use it to guide your string through the casing. If you've never used this technique before, there is an excellent video from ExpertVillage that's only about 1 min long. Once you get your triangles hung, you're ready to use your new banner.